There was a frank exchange of views when we posted on why/whether the French like their president to be a cultured sort. Some contributors applauded the way that France is not ashamed of its intellectual tradition.

RedHectorreborn said:

It's almost a relief to know there is at least one country in the world that wants its politicians to be intellectuals. Shame its not Britain. We have to put up with Oxbridge morons who think they have been given a divine right to rule.

But wiganandproud remained unconvinced by French intellectual life, arguing that provincial France "rivals chav culture for crassness and offensiveness":

The stereotype of the intellectual Frenchman is what irritates me. They are no more intellectual than the rest of us, but they cling to it like it makes them special.

Give us more on the dark horses, you said. And when we did, you didn't disappoint. A titanic struggle ensued between the champions of freedom and capitalism on one side and the defenders of social cohesion on the other. The tug-of-war centred on Jean-Luc Melechon and his policy – possibly the most striking in the entire election campaign – to tax income above 360,000 euros at 100%. Yes, that's 100%. In other words, the state gets the lot. Grumpyoldman made the case for the social benefits of paying your taxes:

I'm happy to pay my taxes because I know that they contribute to social goods that I approve of and the welfare of total strangers. Unlike some people, who want all the benefits of living in a decent society, but don't want to pay.

But the counter view was put strongly, mostly by contributors from the other side of the Atlantic. One, dfairlite, simply posted a graph showing US GDP soaring by an order of magnitude ahead of French and German economies over the past 50 years.

JRobinetteBiden said:

They have the 100% rate in North Korea ... Looks like it's workin' out for them ...

DakotaKid added:

When you do stupid things like tax at high rates, the capital does not leave today, but it does leave.

We were unconvinced that high rates of taxation would force rich people to move overseas. In Britain it is often posited as an argument for reducing top marginal rates of taxation. And yet concrete examples of people who have actually moved to Switzerland or the British Virgin islands are elusive.

EmmOne put us wise:

The mistake the class-warfare types always make is to focus on income. At a certain level it becomes possible (one might even say "easy") to adjust or even eliminate one's own income, leaving you with little or nothing against which to apply your juicy new tax. Typically these adjustments can be done in ways which defer that income until more favourable tax conditions become available.

Nanome disagreed, saying of the suggestion that the superrich would emigrate:

Of course they don't. And the few that do, tend to be the sort of people we wouldn't miss anyway.

custardicecream suggested it would be easier for French millionaires to hop around, avoiding tax:

The megarich will commute between Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg. The same will apply if Hollande is the next president and introduces the 75% tax bracket on very high incomes.

So three weeks to go. Much to be decided. And a sense that this election is addressing some of the fundamental problems facing western societies today. As ibnalinklisi said:

Vive la France! What a refreshing change from the US and UK, where elections are contested between the far right and centre-right.